Gustavo Hormiga

Research in my laboratory focuses on the systematics and evolutionary biology of spiders, with emphasis on orbweavers and their close relatives (Araneoidea). Our systematic work addresses mainly three spider lineages, the sheet weaving families Linyphiidae and Pimoidae and the orb weaving families Tetragnathidae and Mysmenidae. Our research focuses both on phylogenetics reconstruction and taxonomic work. We use morphological, molecular and behavioral characters to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of our study organisms, to tackle questions that span from species level problems to interrelationships of families. Our work highlights the importance of reconstructing the history of evolutionary changes for addressing comparative questions, such as the evolutionary patterns of sexual size dimorphism in orbweavers or the patterns of diversification and biogeography in the Hawaiian archipelago.